1. ALIEN VS PREDATOR<br />REQUIEM<br />Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem is a 2007 American science fiction film. A sequel to 2004's Alien vs. Predator, it continues the film crossover of the Alien and Predator media franchises. Filming began on September 25, 2006 in Vancouver with the Brothers Strauss (Colin and Greg) directing the film based on a screenplay by Shane Salerno. The film's lead roles are played by actors Steven Pasquale and Reiko Aylesworth.<br />The film was rated R for violence, gore and language, unlike its predecessor, which was given a PG-13 rating. The BBFC's classification decision for the film is the same as the original (Rated 15), whilst the Australian OFLC rated the film MA, up on the original's M rating.<br />Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem was released on December 25, 2007, and received a largely negative response from film critics. The film grossed $9.5 million on its opening day and took in a worldwide gross of almost $130 million in theatres. According to Home Media Magazine, the film debuted at 1 in sales and rentals on Blu-ray and 2 on DVD when it was released on home video on April 15, 2008. Since then, the film has gained $28,550,434 in home video sales, bringing ts total film gross to $157,461,400.<br />Inspired by Terminator 2: Judgment Day, brothers Colin and Greg Strause moved to Los Angeles to break into the film business. After an unsuccessful attempt to find employment at ILM, the brothers worked on the X-Files film and founded their own special effects company, Hydraulx. The company produced special effects for films such as Volcano, Titanic, The Day After Tomorrow, Poseidon and 300, and the brothers began a career directing commercials and music videos. Colin believes Hydraulx secured a strong relationship with 20th Century Fox, which owns the Alien and Predator franchises.<br />The brothers unsuccessfully pitched an idea for the first Alien vs. Predator film, and Fox almost bought a film titled Wolfenstein suggested by the brothers, quot;
When the script came up for this movie, they thought we'd be perfect for it because it's an ambitious movie for the budget that they had and they knew that having our visual effects background was going to be a huge thing.quot;
The brothers were hired to direct the sequel to Alien vs. Predator in late spring 2006, and had limited time to start filming in the fall.<br />Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem was released in North America on December 25, 2007, in 2,563 theatres. The film grossed $9,515,615 on its opening day for an average of $3,707 per theatre, and was number ten at the box office. It grossed $5 million in Australia, $9 million in Japan and the United Kingdom, and $7 million in Russia for an international total of $86,288,761. As of February 24, 2009, the film had taken in a domestic gross of $41,797,066, and an international gross of $87,087,428, bringing it to a total of $128,884,494. The budget of the film was $40,000,000. The film is the lowest grossing Alien film in the domestic box office, and is the second lowest grossing Alien film worldwide, next to the original Alien, excluding the effect of inflation.<br />As with its predecessor, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem was not screened for critics, although once able to view the film, the response was largely negative. Based on 66 reviews, the film scored a 13% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes, and 29 out of 100 at Metacritic, the worst for a film in the franchises. Chief criticisms of the film included acting, dialogue, cardboard characters, over-the-top gore, bad lighting, and quot;
jumpy editingquot;
; however, a few critics praised the film as quot;
a fun B moviequot;
.<br />Chris Hewitt of Empire called it an quot;
early but strong contender for worst movie of 2008quot;
, while BBC critic Mark Kermode's scathing review called the film quot;
noisy, badly shot rubbishquot;
. Stina Chyn of Film Threat felt the camerawork quot;
is a smidge too shaky and the lighting/color design too dark for me to relish the Predator-on-Alien butt-kickingquot;
. Josh Rosenblatt of The Austin Chronicle dismissed the film stating it was quot;
An orgy of mindless violence, a random collection of bloody bodies, alien misanthropy, and slobbering carnage designed to bore straight into the pleasure centers of 13-year-old boys and leave the rest of us wondering when the movies got so damn loud.quot;
The Hollywood Reporter contributor Kirk Honeycutt called it a quot;
dull actioner that looks like a bad video gamequot;
.<br />